A career in dental hygiene puts you in a position to help others while working in a growing, lucrative field. Working as an oral healthcare professional is a great choice for many reasons, but it’s not for everyone. Before spending the money, time and effort to become a registered dental hygienist (RDH), it’s important to know as much as possible about the job. Here are a few things to...

Can dental offices classify dental hygienists as independent contractors, instead of as employees? There’s no shortage of people willing to offer opinions on the matter—practice owners, hygienists, teachers, consultants. Often, they all fall into one of two camps.

Some will tell you that a dental office is completely within its rights to treat you as an independent contractor, if that’s what...

Faced with hiring a new dental assistant? Asking someone else to choose prospective employees for your practice may make some dentists nervous. What would make an employment agency good at selecting qualified applicants than yourself? After all, you are a doctor, and it surely isn't harder than a three-root endodontic procedure. Or is it?

If you’re working through a dental staffing agency, chances are you’re not making as much money as you could. The service may be helping you find jobs, but those jobs don’t pay what you’re really worth. While you’re not paying the placement agency directly, the agency’s fees do ultimately come out of your pocket.

People outside of dentistry are often surprised to learn that many dental professionals don’t have full time, permanent jobs. But registered dental hygienists (RDHs) and dental assistants know the truth. Permanent positions in dental hygiene and dental assisting aren’t always available, and many dental professionals aren’t interested in staying in one place. Whether by necessity or by choice, RDHs have pieced together work schedules through dental temp agencies for decades.

If you’re a dental hygienist, dental assistant or dental auxiliary professional, a dental staffing agency may seem like the obvious place to find work. It’s fraught with problems, though, and those problems can get in the way of your profits. Fortunately, there is an alternative. Cloud Dentistry is a cloud-based dental staffing platform that outshines any agency. Here’s why you should consider making the switch from the agency to the cloud.

Dear Dental Professionals,

Did you know that signing up to work through a placement agency can actually reduce your earnings and limit your work opportunities, especially full-time work? It’s true.

While placement agencies might not directly charge you for their services, the truth is you are paying for their services just the same. It’s a hidden, pernicious sort of trick. Here’s how it works.

Placement agencies get you to join them by promising free help. Then they turn around and charge a markup on your hourly rate to offices. This is money that, at least in part, could have gone to you.

This markup also makes you less competitive for temp assignments. Other temps, working through an online matching site like Cloud Dentistry, don’t come saddled with these extra costs, and are therefore more attractive options to dental offices.

And here’s the worst part of all. In the event an office wants to hire you full time, placement agencies charge a markup of around 15% on your annual salary. An office that wants to pay you a $50,000 salary, for example, may first have to pay $7,500 in tribute to the agency.

Many offices aren’t willing to pay this. So, as much as the office may have loved working with you, they’re going to fill this full-time position with another candidate—one that doesn’t come burdened by placement-agency baggage.

And so the cycle starts over. You missed out on a full-time position and are back to temping. Keep using a placement agency, and the cycle continues.

If you find yourself in this situation, or are considering working with an agency, I’d urge you to view the relationship with a critical eye. I’d also urge you to remove yourself from their roster. Otherwise, placement agencies may try to argue, wrongly, that your inclusion in their roster is enough to prevent you from working for an office (even if the agency did not help connect you to that office).

Restrictions on labor of this sort are of questionable legality. More importantly, anyone that would obstruct your gainful employment in this way does not have your interest at heart.

The good news is we are here to help. Please share this email with any friends whom you think could benefit from it. My goal is to empower dental professionals to take control of their careers and professional brands, unshackled by placement agencies.

If there’s anything I can do to support you, please do not hesitate to contact us. I’m at your disposal.

Please do not send us any agreements that are subject to a confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement. Nothing herein should be construed as legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is created by this email. We encourage you to consult an attorney if you have any legal questions.

We’re serious about your smile! As every dental professional knows, your mouth is an excellent indicator of your overall health. You’d be surprised how much it reveals about your well-being. But there are plenty of myths about dental health and dentistry research, as well.